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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28590816">Welcome, to the Reve Festival</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/starberryjaems/pseuds/starberryjaems'>starberryjaems</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Ending, Carnivals, Horror, M/M, Minor Character Death, Thriller, for town roulette fest, i don't know how to tag, i guess, insprired by Zimzalabim and Simon's Say, opening ending, there's sum creepy stuff going on</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 06:33:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,788</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28590816</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/starberryjaems/pseuds/starberryjaems</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Dear Dongs,</p><p>We are pleased to invite you to come and join our marvellous Reve Festival this following Saturday!"</p><p>Sicheng couldn't help feeling uneasy from this weird invitation.</p><p> </p><p>(or, the scary zimzalabim x simon says au which everyone asked for)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>The Red Fiesta</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Welcome, to the Reve Festival</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my entry for Town Roulette's very first event. </p><p>Thank you mods and readers for taking your time to hold this fest and choosing to read this. And thank you dear prompter for giving me this wonderful prompt!!</p><p>many kudoses</p><p> </p><p>friendly tw// mentions of death, mild mentions of blood, being shot and being mauled (like im not joking, it's only mild but it's a trigger)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sicheng stretches as he pushes himself away from his desk, checking the watch on his wrist, and then does a small sweep of his floor. There’s only him and Yuta left in the office.</p><p>“Winwinie!” Yuta calls as he slides his chair into Sicheng’s cubicle, “Shouldn’t you be leaving to pick up Renjun and Lele?” Yuta asks tilting his head.</p><p>Sicheng curses. It was almost 7, he promises to pick up his brothers to attend an event. It didn’t take much of him to agree to their puppy dog eyes (Renjun’s lighthearted threats and Chenle’s dolphin screams), he doesn’t have the heart to reject them. Besides, it’s been a while since the three of them went outside to an amusement park or a local carnival together. </p><p> </p><p>“Sicheng ge!” Renjun’s shout greets him, “Look what we got in the mail!” The middle child smiles happily as he runs to Sicheng at the door, carrying a red envelope with  gold lining.</p><p>“Really? Let me see.” Sicheng pesters up a smile despite his tiredness from working at the office. He takes the envelope from Renjun’s hands and looks at it. In beautiful cursive and gold metallic ink, he sees their family name ‘Dongs’ in contrast to the velvet packaging. </p><p>Sicheng opens the envelope as he hears the footsteps of the youngest coming to the door. Sicheng peeks inside and sees 3 velvet colored tickets and one invitation. He pulls out the letter and before he could read past the greeting.</p><p>“Ge! Let me read it!” Chenle snatches it out of his hands and he runs into the living room, with Renjun hot on his trail.</p><p>“Dear Dongs,” Chenle starts, “We are pleased to invite you to come and join our marvellous Reve Festival this following Saturday!”</p><p>And between the breaks where Chenle asks Renjun to help him read some of the words, Sicheng could gather that they are being invited to a festival that extends into the night this Saturday, there will be a car to pick them up at 8 and they have to bring masks as their only requirement.</p><p>“Ge? What’s a masquerade?” Renjun asks.</p><p>“We have to wear pretty and beautiful masks, that's a masquerade,” Sicheng replies and tells Chenle to continue reading the invitation.</p><p>After the two children finished reading, they stared at Sicheng. The eldest blinks at them, more worried than confused. ‘They’re plotting.’ Sicheng is screwed if he says no to the invite.</p><p>If he wants to start cooking early and get through dinner with his sanity intact, he can’t say no. Before Chenle could start shouting and before Renjun could open his mouth.</p><p>“Okay, we can go.” Sicheng smiles and his brothers celebrate.</p><p> </p><p>This brings them to him riding Yuta’s car on his way back to his place. “Sorry that we have to cancel the date,” Sicheng says softly and Yuta pats his thigh as he turns the corner into Sicheng’s street. </p><p>“I told you that it’s fine many times Winwin, we can reschedule.” Yuta laughs, “Besides, I’m seeing you at work almost every day and we get to have cute lunch dates together. Also,” Yuta leans towards Sicheng, “We could get busy in the washrooms if-“</p><p>“Stop!” Schenk giggles and pushes his boyfriend back to his seat, “Focus on driving you idiot.”</p><p>“Just saying.” Yuta gives him a smug smile and they both laugh.</p><p>“Here you are princess, off you go.” Says Yuta as he stops his car in front of Sicheng’s house, “Don’t have too much fun without me.”</p><p>“Please, I’m more of a babysitter than a guest tonight.” Sicheng sighs and shakes his head, “I’ll call you if we need a ride back.”</p><p>“Oh you better, I’ll break the spending limit just for you.” Sicheng’s heart melts and he pulls Yuta into a kiss.</p><p>“I’ll see you at work.” Sicheng opens the car door and waves at Yuta until he doesn’t see him on his street.</p><p>Sicheng sighs and enters his house, he is thankful that his brothers bought him food, albeit McDonald's’, the hour pasts rather quickly. </p><p>He looks at the clock as he fixes his jacket, its 8 pm on the dot and he hears a car honk. Followed by frantic knocking on his room door, courtesy of Chenle. </p><p>“Ge! Our ride is here!” Sicheng grabs his phone and his keys and gets pulled out of his room. </p><p>He almost forgot to grab their masks Renjun made before leaving the house and locking the door.</p><p>Sicheng sees a pink van with bright colored stripes parked outside his front yard, and he grips Chenle’s shoulder.</p><p>“Ge?” Chenle looks up, “Is there something wrong?” Renjun was in front of them and looked at them, tilting his head in confusion.</p><p>‘Yes,’ Sicheng would like to say, ‘Yes, there is something wrong with this entire thing.’ An obvious red flag is a van, it’s not a black van but it’s a van. Sicheng hopes that it's just paranoia.</p><p>“Nothing much.” Sicheng shrugs, hoping to ease the tension he’s feeling, “Just don’t get out of sight.” He chuckles and ruffles Chenle’s hair, “You too Renjun.”</p><p>“Ha!” Chenle laughs, “As if you can get rid of the both of us this easily.” And then Chenle pulls Sicheng to the van.</p><p>The driver lowers the window and smiles at the three and Sicheng is reasonably surprised at how deep the dimples were of the driver has on his cheeks. “Hi, you must be the Dongs. Come on in, just pull the door and you three will be at the festival in no time.”</p><p>Renjun struggles to open the van door, Chenle erupts in laughter and they got into the pink van.</p><p>The journey there was…tense, for Sicheng. The entire scenario is a red herring, just being stuffed in a (pink) van is already sketchy enough. Sicheng stares out the van window, tuning out the shenanigans between his brothers and the driver.</p><p>Street lights starting to sparse and then it turns to none, the city turned into trees and the scenery somehow calmed his nerves. He does not understand the excitement Renjun and Chenle feel, oh how Sicheng wishes to be a child again and not be afraid of the idea of being kidnapped in a form of a rather handsome driver with a rather noticeable pink van.</p><p>Soon, the three siblings hear cheerful carnival music and the forest clears. Sicheng could see the bright yellow lights illuminating the clearing where the van stops. The driver turns to the siblings and smiles, “We’re here everybody.” He says with excitement, though Sicheng can sense a tiny hint of forcefulness in his tone, he doesn’t address it. </p><p>“Have a nice night at the carnival, be careful to not lose your masks.” The driver opens the door, Renjun and Chenle hopped out of the car, masks in hand with a small “Thank You,” as they leave. </p><p>Sicheng stays in the van for a split second, fearing that the driver would shut the door and drive away, with his brothers lost to the forest. He grips at the door and exits the car, shooting the driver a small smile, “Have a nice night.” He tells the driver, shooting him a soft smile. </p><p>Then, Sicheng sees the light in the driver's shift. What was once lied behind was a pair of unbothered, gentle eyes gave rise to a pair of frightened, borderline panicked expression. The driver whipped his head to Sicheng, shoulders hitching, “Do not do not lose or take off your masks.” He says in an exhale, “Don’t listen to what—,” before Sicheng can hear the end of it, the driver’s eyes suddenly changed. The ones he saw mere seconds ago vanished and replaced with the pair he saw before he stepped into the pink van.</p><p>“Have a nice night, <i>Zimzalabim</i>.” The driver gives Sicheng a small wave and a rather forced smile. The van door closes and he sees the pink vehicle drove off, disappearing into the darkness. Sicheng sucks in a deep breath and breaths out the nerves huddled in his shoulders, the sense of danger never leaving him.</p><p>Renjun calls for him and Sicheng turns, seeing a pink ticket booth and a small line in front of it. Seeing the small, but existing, queue eases the eldest. ‘At least it wasn’t just them heading to the carnival.’</p><p>Chenle grabs his brothers and line up in the front of the booth, Sicheng could practically see the energy ooze out of the youngest. Sicheng smiles and pinches Chenle’s cheeks, causing the youngest to yelp and swat his hands away from his face before meeting him with defeat.</p><p>As the people in front of them leave the book, with cheerful smiles and masks in hand, Sicheng takes the cue to move forward.</p><p>“Hello, welcome to the Reve Festival! May I see your invitations please.” Said the staff in the booth, there sits a woman with long straight hair and clad in pink. Sicheng sensed something off from the staff, first from the driver, and now from the ticket lady. He tries to shake the nerves off of him, Sicheng wonders if he will keep doing that until the end of the night.</p><p>“Alright,” The ticket lady said cheerfully, “Yes, The Dongs! That checks out on our guest list. Here are 3 tickets for you, could you kindly give me the tickets that came with the invitation.” The lady reaches out her hand and Renjun gives her the tickets.</p><p>The lady didn’t immediately take the tickets handed from Renjun, as if she was hesitant in receiving the tickets. Her entire figure froze, her smile at a perfect, artificial curve. The eerie smile causes Chenle to step back from the booth and hit his back at Sicheng, the eldest doesn’t ignore the small tug on his jacket.</p><p>Sicheng placed a hand on Renjun’s shoulder, worried if something would happen if he lost contact with his brother. Three seconds past and the ticket lady stared at Sicheng, her smile widens and she opens her lips and says, “Don’t lose your masks, you will need them to see the moonwalk.” He could see a small twitch on her lips, trembling slightly as if to get rid of her smile.</p><p>Then her hand closes on Renjun’s tickets like a bear trap, making the small boy jump. “I’ll be taking that now,” She smiles back at the siblings, “Have a nice night. <i>Zimzalabim</i>!” She bids them goodbye and she turns her head back to the front, waiting for their next guest to come.</p><p>Chenle holds tighter on Sicheng’s hand as they walk to the entrance of the carnival, heart thumping out loud as it threatens to pop out of his chest. “Ge,” Chenle whispers, “Nothing will happen to us right?” The question doesn’t fall off of the middle child’s ears, making Renjun turn to face his brothers.</p><p>Sicheng musters another smile and let out a forced chuckle, “Hopefully nothing will.” He grips on Chenle’s hand, “Remember what the ticket lady says, don’t lose our masks. Now come on.” Sicheng places his mask on and his brothers follow through, and he leads them to the carnival.</p><p>He is immediately astounded by how bright and festive the carnival is, despite the lack of guests. The cheerful, upbeat carnival music soothes out Sicheng’s nerves and makes him forget the eerie encounters with the driver and the ticket lady.</p><p>Renjun and Chenle’s smile widens at the attractions, from the red speedy rollercoasters to the large swing ride rimmed with yellow lightbulbs, The Reve Festival was astonishing to the eye. To the youngest two, this was a huge step up from what they had experienced before. </p><p>“Ge! Ge!” Chenle screams, “Let’s go on the roller coaster!” </p><p>“Yeah,” Renjun chimes in, franticly nodding at the idea of a rollercoaster. </p><p>Sicheng’s heart softens at his siblings and he agrees, letting the children drag both his hands towards the amusement ride. He looks through the eyes of the masks and sees the moon, sees the clouds move in the direction of the wind. His eyes widen at how tall the ride was, he can see the rails rise above the clouds, he can’t even see where the drop is. But with the mind-numbing festival music, Sicheng couldn’t bring himself to care about the consequences.</p><p>As he enters the small shack for the waiting line, Sicheng can see a boy in his peripherals. A tall boy with light brown hair in a black jacket with red edges. He stands there, beneath the light post by the attraction next to them, he is there without a mask and with a prominent frown. Sicheng locked eyes with the boy for a split second, he sees the shock from the bounce of the boy, before slipping into the shack with his enthusiastic brothers.</p><p>There was no queue for the ride like the other attractions Sicheng sees on the way to the ride. The small shack was a pale pink color with magenta accents, and when Sicheng stares out of the windows between the walls he sees the soft colors of blue and the cotton clouds outside. Sicheng didn’t question why it’s daytime when he was sure that they arrived at night.</p><p>It was like logic doesn’t exist in this place.</p><p>They arrived at the front of the attraction where a roller coaster cart was waiting with them, two two-by-two seats and young staff  in a dress standing behind the cart with what Sicheng assumes are…red reigns?</p><p>“Welcome, have a seat.” Says the staff as the seat harnesses rise. Renjun and Chenle let go of Sicheng’s hand and Sicheng couldn’t let go of the undeniable dread that comes after without having physical contact with his siblings.</p><p>It was like he was snapped out of a trance as he sat down and got strapped into the ride. There was an instinct for him to take off his mask and rubs his eyes to rub out of the confusion in his head.</p><p>“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Suddenly the staff whispered into his ear, startling Sicheng, “Haven’t my friends tell you not to remove your mask.” She smiles softly and Sicheng reluctantly removes his hand from the mask, “You have to keep it to see the moonwalk.”</p><p>“And to survive the night, my friend.” Sicheng hears the staff sighs as she sits downs.</p><p>With a ‘swish’ of the reigns, the ride starts with the excited shouts from his siblings.</p><p>Sicheng wows at the sight, the ride rises to the clouds, the sky was shining yellow and filled with pink cotton candy clouds. It was like a dreamy fantasy cultivated by a child and they were living through it. The wind was rushing through his hair, he could see the flailing arms and the excited shouts of Renjun and Chenle in front of him before the drop.</p><p>Something was bubbling from the inside of Sicheng, perhaps it was the thrill of riding a rollercoaster. “Oh my god!” Sicheng screams as the car drops through the clouds. He tries to smile and enjoy the ride but he felt an odd feeling creeping from the back.</p><p>He hears someone laugh in the wind.</p><p>And everything turns black.</p><p> </p><p>Sicheng wakes up on the floor along, with a throb in his head. He moves to touch his face and sighs in relief that his mask is still on his face. Sicheng quickly looks around and sees Renjun and Chenle right next to him. He tries to stand up but immediately falls to the ground as if gravity was pushing down against him.</p><p>“Oh, you’re awake.” He sees a lady standing up, her hand on a lever. “Good, better fix your masks or you’re going to be stuck here with the rest of us.” There was something sinister in her smile, “Simon and Irene would love, love to have new friends.” And she raises the lever.</p><p>He feels himself float up and the room goes dark, <i>“Simon says you’re a real vibe killer.”</i> She says in a sing-song voice, “Simon says, you have to find Irene.” Then the room lights up with neon blue lights, and then she quickly grabs Sicheng’s hand.</p><p>“Find Seulgi, she’ll help you escape.”</p><p>Sicheng’s mind boggles at the change in her tone but he disregards it. She sounds desperate for him in the last sentence, Sicheng is confused, to say the least. </p><p>Nonetheless, Sicheng shakes Renjun and Chenle and they groan from being stirred awake.</p><p>“Ge,” Chenle groans, “Let us sleep some more.” Sicheng rolls his eyes and tugs his brothers up like how he woke them up before going to school.</p><p>“We have to go,” Sicheng tries to get Renjun to get on his feet, “We have to get out of here.” He takes his brothers’ hands and rushes through the door of the room, leaving the girl and the door shuts with a loud ‘Bang’.</p><p>Sicheng sees the tall silver metal walls and the plethora of mirrors in front of his vision, the lights start to shut down one by one until they are left with one illuminating the spot they’re standing on. Chenle starts breathing heavily, tears pooling in his eyes as they threaten to fall.</p><p>“Ge, what do we do?” Renjun whispers, gripping onto Sicheng’s hand, “I’m scared.”</p><p>“Me too Injunie,” Sicheng whispers back, shaking his hand slightly in what seems too small encouragement, “I’m scared too.” </p><p>He hates it here, his brothers are still children, weak helpless children and Sicheng isn’t that far off either. He could barely call himself an adult. Their parents leaving them alone when he was still 17, no amount of money could buy them the security of a family. Sicheng has to find out a way to get out of this mirror maze, or just survive the night.</p><p>The invitation says that the carnival ends at dawn, right?</p><p>With a heavy heart, Sicheng takes a deep breath and tells them to move, “We have to find this Seulgi person okay.”</p><p>The lights flicker from time to time, Sicheng could see that the walls were coated a cute pink color. This place might be a good attraction given the right chances, Sicheng thinks. They bump into mirrors occasionally, because who doesn’t when walking through a mirror maze.</p><p>Renjun counted every minute since they left their starting point, it's keeping Sicheng grounded and keeping Chenle from freaking out. They’ve been stuck for 5 minutes so far and Renjun speaks up.</p><p>“Lele, where’s your <i>mask</i>?” Sicheng’s heart sinks.</p><p>“What do you mean you lost your mask?” Sicheng speaks, “I told you to never lose your mask!” The driver reminded them, the ticket lady reminded them and Sicheng reminded them every time. But when Sicheng turned to Chenle, he felt Chenle’s hand slip away as he sees a boy pull his brother away from him. It was the same boy he saw at the entrance of the rollercoaster.</p><p>“Chenle!” Renjun screams and tries to run towards his younger brother, but suddenly a wall flew up from the ground, separating the siblings. Renjun slams his fist to the wall as he sobs and Sicheng stands there, stunned.</p><p>He can only hear Renjun’s cries and he couldn’t hear Chenle’s voice even before he was taken from them. Sicheng can hear his heart racing in his ears, he lost his brother in a mysterious, sketchy carnival, and he is stuck in an endless mirror maze.</p><p>“I’m so sorry,” A voice made Sicheng jump and instinctively collects Renjun into his arms, “Irene got to him.” And Sicheng sees a girl with curly long hair in a blue mesh top. “You won’t be able to get him back, the festival has got him now.”</p><p>“What do you mean we won’t get him back!” Renjun tries to lunge at the lady in a rage with tear-filled eyes.</p><p>The lady signals them to follow her and she sees the hesitation in Sicheng’s eyes, “I think the girl you met earlier, told you to find me.” And a lightbulb lights in his head, ‘This is Seulgi then,’ Sicheng gave her a nod and held Renjun’s hand, motioning him to follow along.</p><p>“That boy you see,” Seulgi starts, “That was Jisung. He was one of the first children who got lost in here.”</p><p>“When was that?” Sicheng asks.</p><p>“Seven years ago, I believe.” And Sicheng doesn’t know how to feel. Imagine a child being stranded here alone without his family in an unknown place, “None of us could leave, we couldn’t leave. Almost none of the guests could either, we’re all stuck in this endless night. It’s been years since I saw the moon move.”</p><p>“What about my brother then? Will he be alright?” Renjun raises his voice softly.</p><p>“Yes, we never go hungry or ever go sleepy. The children loved it here,” Seulgi says solemnly, “We’re allowed to play until the end of time. But none of us will be remembered after the next moon cycle.”</p><p>Sicheng frowns and Renjun continues to sob, Seulgi gives them a small smile, “Jisung would take care of Chenle, don’t worry. I have to get you two out of this carnival, or else you’ll be stuck like the rest of us.”</p><p>They walked in silence and Sicheng continues to be dizzier than when he first entered the carnival. He thinks he might in denial, or maybe from the shock of suddenly losing Chenle to some fucked up murderous carnival.</p><p> There’s no guilt or remorse in not being able to protect his younger brother, but a void gaping at him from the bottom of his stomach. Sicheng grips harder on Renjun’s hand as they followed Seulgi.</p><p>When they turned the corner before finding the exit, Seulgi gasps, and freezes.</p><p>In front of them, a lady clad in yellow and in a low ponytail. “Seulgi…” The lady clicks her tongue in disappointment, “What would Simon do if he sees you like this.”</p><p>“Shut up!” Seulgi cries, “How many lives will you take before it’s enough. There are children here Irene!”</p><p>The lady, Irene, smirks at her and twirls her hair. “Your point? Us catching people is what keeps us alive, Seulgi. This is an unending carnival. The children will be happy here,” Irene smiles in euphoria and opens her arms, “We’ll be having fun under the moonlight forever.”</p><p>Sicheng’s mind boggles. All of this is not making sense but a little at the same time. He feels Renjun shaking his hand, Sicheng knows Renjun understands the situation here. Renjun’s a smart kid like that, but admitting it out loud is the only barrier from accepting that they are, utterly, fucked.</p><p>“If I were you Seulgi, I would take off their masks. Don’t anger Simon, Seulgi.”</p><p>All of a sudden, a bullet shoots through from the mirror and lodges into Irene’s head, causing the smaller female to fall over and Renjun to scream.</p><p> A man bursts through the mirror, rifle in hand, and tilts his head towards the exit. Sicheng immediately notices his neon…green hair.</p><p>“Hurry up, Mark’s coming. Go! I’ll find Simon.” He shouts as he runs out of the mirror maze. Seugli pulls Sicheng’s hand and bolts towards the exit, Renjun almost tripping when he finally got out of the building.</p><p>Sicheng loses sight of the man but he doesn’t put that in mind. All he is trying to do is even out his breathing, geez he really should’ve said yes to Yuta’s requests to go to the gym.</p><p>His heart starts to race…, ‘Yuta.’ He says without sound. He doesn’t know what to do if Yuta didn’t see him at his home in the morning when he picks him up. </p><p>Fear…bubbles up like a volcano about to explode. </p><p>He doesn’t give 2 shits if his parents were worried about losing 3 sons. He worries for his boyfriend not knowing the whereabouts of him and his siblings. Renjun and Chenle loved being around Yuta, and Yuta vice versa. Yuta doesn’t have anyone else than them, Sicheng doesn’t want him to lose another family again.</p><p>Sicheng is determined to get him and Renjun out of this place.</p><p>Seulgi whips her head back as she hears the roaring of a tiger and stops running. “Where the fuck is Taeyong when you need him.” He hears her whisper desperately. “Find Johnny or Taeil, find them. They’ll know who you are if they see you. Know go!” She gives him an encouraging pat on the back and runs in the direction of the tiger roaring.</p><p>Sicheng looks at Renjun and the younger wipes his tears with his sleeve and nods back at him. “Ge, we have to go,” Renjun mutters and they run.</p><p>Sicheng doesn’t know where they’re going. He honestly doesn’t know where he’s going or in which direction he's far away from danger. He tries his best to ignore Seulgi’s cries of pain from behind.</p><p>The tiger roars again, and again, and the sounds come closer to them by the minute. They just have to keep running, and maybe Seulgi’s friend could keep them safe. </p><p>They run around corners of the carnival that was slowly deteriorating in front of his eyes. He looks up to the sky and the clouds continue to move, so does the moon. And the buildings and rides start to rust and bend and collapse.</p><p>“Over here!” He hears somebody call out for him. In front of him was a tall male with a bow in his hand. Sicheng almost ignores the roaring creeping behind him when.</p><p>Renjun cries as he’s being mauled by the tiger.</p><p>Sicheng stands there, frozen. His hand is still warm from holding Renjun’s.</p><p>The male runs to him and tugs Sicheng’s arm. “We have to go!”</p><p>Sicheng feels like a fever dream. He’s being dragged off a man with a bow, far away from his brother. He finally has the time to think about what’s going on with him. </p><p>Sicheng hopes that when he wakes up from this nightmare, Renjun, and Chenle banging on his door to cook them eggs and waiting for Yuta pick him up after the school bus leaves with his siblings. He closes his eyes in hopes that he would wake up. </p><p>But he doesn’t.</p><p>This is very real. He lost both of his brothers in the span of a night. He might not even leave this haunted place. Sicheng doesn’t acknowledge that the man beside him got shot and drops to the ground.</p><p>Sicheng’s head continues to spin and he falls to the floor in exhaustion. “Dong Sicheng,” Someone calls out to him and Sicheng turns to him. There is no face, just a big mask over his face.</p><p>“It’s okay, stay in the carnival with us. Stay with your siblings. There’s nothing more you could lose.”</p><p>Sicheng couldn’t hear anything from him. Everything goes into one ear and goes out the other.</p><p>“Or,” Irene pops out of nowhere, blood still bleeding out of her head and staining her dress, “1, 2, 3,” she raises her fingers, “And play the game again.”</p><p>“How wonderful,” The man next to her claps, “Yes! Let’s play the game!” He says happily as he walks closer to Sicheng, “Take off your mask, and we’ll give you a night to find your brothers.”</p><p>“If you find them, you get to leave this place.” Irene finishes and Sicheng listens.</p><p>Gears churn in his head and he considers the option. “And if I don’t?” He mutters.</p><p>“You’ll stay here, with us and your brothers.” Irene smiles at him. “Whatever choice you choose, you’ll still be with your brothers. So, what’s your answer.”</p><p>She lends out a hand and Sicheng takes it. She’s right, if he fails, he still has his brothers with him. And he has to win the game, he could get his siblings out of here. He can get out of here and find Yuta, and warn others about this fucked up place.</p><p>“I’ll…play your stupid game,” Sicheng mutters out and Irene jumps in glee.</p><p>“Very well, Simon, would you do the honors.”</p><p>Simon steps forward and takes off his mask, throwing it to the sky. <i>“Simon says, you’re a real vibe killer.”</i></p><p> And Irene waves to the sky with a wide smile, <i>"Zimzalabim!"</i></p><p>Sicheng feels his mask fall from his face.</p><p>He looks up to the sky as he falls.</p><p>The last thing he sees was the moon, halting in its place.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <i>“Calling, Winko”</i>
</p><p>…<br/>
…<br/>
…<br/>
<i>“I’m sorry, the number you have called could not be reached at the moment. Please try and—“</i></p><p>Yuta arrives at the last location Sicheng has sent out to him, and all he see is a burnt down amusement park.</p><p>With the worn-out sign, “The Reve Festival” haunting back at him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hi hello, this is the end notes.</p><p>okay first, i'm so sorry for you all to read through this shit show. You can see that it's being rushed at the end because I don't know how to end things and build suspense. but I hope that this gives you somewhat of a scared feeling when writing this.</p><p> </p><p>there's a good ending and a bad ending, but in actuality it's both good endings for sicheng. the good ending is that simon &amp; irene didn't lie to him and winwin finds renle and leaves. the bad ending is that sicheng couldn't find them and gets stuck, some time later yuta gets invited to the carnival and they get stuck in there forever.</p><p>so yeah. Hope you good people enjoy this late mess (bc i can't time manage, i wrote this one week before submissions)</p><p>and also a very important note, drink water and be hyrated!!</p><p> </p><p>  <a href="https://twitter.com/redvelatine">twt</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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